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Wallsend History Week returned this summer, uniting the community in a celebration of the town’s rich and fascinating past; the very history that shaped the Wallsend we know today.

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Transcript
00:00To keep history alive, you've got to keep reminding people, especially younger people,
00:05of things that happened in the past and how it's shaped where we are now.
00:10So from my point of view, I've always liked history because history is a window in the past
00:16of what the future could be if you do things a bit better or whatever, you know.
00:20So I think it's important, especially like young school kids,
00:24they don't particularly know about a lot of the stuff that happened.
00:28Maybe it's 50, like 100 years ago.
00:31So being able to host events like this is very informative for them.
00:37And as part of this, we're actually doing talks in a local school with their school children.
00:43I think it's year two school children in there.
00:46So we've done a few of them in the past where we've done it and we've done guided tours.
00:50So it isn't just myself who does them, it's other people who are doing them.
00:54You know, the whole idea, as I say, it's just about sharing the history of Wall's End
00:58and trying to enthuse people, if you like, for the future.
01:02You know, they're taking an interest in history as well.
01:05Wall's End's name is rooted in history.
01:07It's the very end of Hadrian's Wall and was once home to the Roman fort Segedunum,
01:11which guarded the eastern terminus.
01:14During the 18th and 19th centuries, coal mining boomed with seven pits active between 7078 and 1935,
01:21employing 2,000 workers.
01:23Later, Wall's End became synonymous with shipbuilding.
01:26The Wigan Richardson Yard merged into Swan Hunter, where iconic vessels like the RMS Maritania,
01:31holder of the blue ribbon for the fastest Atlantic crossing, were constructed.
01:36Obviously, the things that excited us about Wall's End is the fact of all the history that's here.
01:41And most people know, obviously, about the Romans and the Segedunum Fort, which was the end of the Roman wall.
01:49But they don't really realise all the history that came after the Romans.
01:54And if you like, from our point of view in the History Society, we want to have the Romans,
02:00which is very important, but also have the rest of the stuff like the first colliery wagon wares that came here.
02:07You know, the world beating Wall's End colliery at the time with John Buddle,
02:12this famous viewer of a colliery who invented, like, splitting the air system and, you know,
02:18and the dumb furnace or stuff that people don't really realise about.
02:22Well, these were all monumental, like, facts about Wall's End.
02:26Something else is that people probably don't realise that Wall's End was one of the first places to have power generation.
02:33They had two power stations and, because of that, they could actually power all the industries on the town.
02:39And it also enabled them to actually run a tram service from about 1901.
02:45And also, the Riverside Branch and Wall's End, a part of it, was the first branch lane,
02:53which was electrified outside of London's underground.
02:56And most people don't know these type of facts.
03:00So, yeah.
03:01So, wait.
03:02No, no, no.
03:03No, no, no.
03:04Okay.
03:05Yeah, sorry.
03:06We're in the next process.
03:07We do.
03:08We do.
03:09Bye.
03:10Leave.
03:11Bye.
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